I usually make a list of resolutions when a new year rolls around, but this year I am stealing another RMT’ers idea of making a list of rules to live by for 2012 (thanks for the idea, Teresa!).

While my friend made a list of 10 rules, I am going to begin with just four. Four is a good number for me; I can count it out on one hand, I can commit the list to memory more easily, and I might even be able to test each rule once daily rather than just every once in a while. Practice makes perfect, right? OK, maybe not, but practice definitely creates better habits and routines, which is more what I am striving for anyway.

And with that, here’s the list… it might be short, but it’s soooo not simple. Thank goodness I adore a challenge!

Yell Less I am so SO sick and tired of hearing myself talk, let alone yell. I also have one of those voices that just naturally carries a la PA system-like, so there’s that additional challenge to address on top of the extra yelling. So you all heard it (or at least read it) here first: I am going to yell less and aim to talk with a better Inside Voice. Perhaps I can then better model what it is that I expect of T (and C for that matter) – and everyone else I come across in my daily interactions for that matter.

Road Relax I need to reel in the road rage in a BIG TIME way. Whether I am driving with T in the car or not, I have got to get a grip on the fact that no one – including myself really – knows how to drive all that well. We’re all in a hurry and/or we all have those times we are driving extra-defensively. So with that, I need to ease off the gas and put the brakes on the bad language and other outbursts (again, see rule one!) when it comes to judging other people’s car behaviors.

Kick (My Own) Ass The time has come for me to step it up at the gym. While I definitely was successful in 2011 in establishing a new routine of gym attendance (15 pounds and two sizes down, go me!), I also fell into the rut of phoning it in toward the end of the year. I hadn’t really changed much in how I exercised and hadn’t been pushing myself harder as the weeks went by, which led to an eventual plateau. So for 2012 one of my goals will be to change up my workout routine the first week of every month. I already have changed my workout for January to include an entirely new circuit of weight machines, and I can already feel the difference (ouch!).

Slow Down the Morning Rush Whether if I’m getting T ready for school or I’m trying to get us out the door for a weekend family activity, I need to eliminate the morning rush from our routines. T has started asking me if we’re going to be late, which promptly got me thinking twice about how I behave (and vocalize those behaviors) in the mornings when it comes to getting us all ready and out of the house. I noticed that the phrase “We’re going to be LATE!” had become almost mantra-like to our mornings, and that’s not good – especially when the four-year-old is asking if we’re going to be late multiple times as I’m rushing about. The bottom line is that we are hardly ever – if ever – late, so what’s the rush all about anyway? I’ll tell you what it is: Control. We make up these kinds of things to say in order to give ourselves a false sense of being more in control of a situation (or a person) when they are just vague words that really have no productive value whatsoever. In fact, it’s outbursts like these which actually create the very problems that I’m trying to avoid (duh).

What rules will you choose to live by in 2012, RMT’ers?